Amadou Mame Diop, 55, the candidate of Benno Bokk Yaakaar (United for the Same Hope), the presidential coalition, has been elected to take over from Moustapha Niass as the country’s National Assembly Speaker.
After several hours of delays and scenes of cacophony, Senegal’s 14th legislature was installed in pain.
Amadou Mame Diop, described as the “chief’s surprise,” was preferred to former Prime Minister Aminata Toure, the head of the presidential coalition’s list in the last legislative elections.
Of the 165 deputies in the hemicycle, 84 took part in the vote. After counting, the deputy-mayor of Richard Toll, a town located in the northenregion of Saint-Louis, was elected with 83 votes, against a null ballot.
The opposition represented by the inter-coalition Yewwi Askanwi (Freeing the People) and Wallu Senegal (Save Senegal), which has 80 deputies, did not take part in the vote, as they demanded that the ministers still in office, elected on the presidential majority list, resign.
The election of the president of the National Assembly took place in a chaotic atmosphere marked by the presence of gendarmes inside the parliament.
The second personality of the State is a pharmacist by training. Amadou Mame Diop is a founding member of the Alliance for the Republic (APR), the political party of the Head of State of Senegal, Macky Sall. During the legislative elections of July 31, he was invested on the district list in Dagana (northern Senegal.)
The discussions are underway for the election of the eight vice-presidents of the Assembly and the members of the Bureau.
AC/cgd/fss/abj/APA